A multiprocessor system consists for two or more processors that communicate to accomplish some task. The processors in the multiprocessor system may or may not be the same. The communications delay between the processors can be considered as representing the coupling strength between the processors. The communications delay represents the time required for a host or control processor to dispatch an operation or command to a coprocessor and for that coprocessor to initiate a response to it. A loosely coupled multiprocessor system usually has a relatively long communications delay as compared to a tightly coupled multiprocessor system that typically has a relatively short communications delay.
There is a class of processors that is described as coprocessors that may not be able to fetch their own instructions but use a “host” processor to supply application specific instructions to the coprocessor. The purpose of the coprocessor is to provide better performance for specialized tasks than could be obtained by the “host” processor acting alone. There is also a class of processors with specialized capabilities, such as digital signal processors (DSPs), that may act as a coprocessor to a control processor. For a number of complex applications, an efficient control processor and an efficient DSP are coupled together to provide an efficient overall solution. It will be recognized that an efficient coupling mechanism is necessary to make a control processor and a DSP system an effective system.